The 2011 Arizona State
Championship was recently held in Tucson November 12th -14. This
single, round robin event was run by Southern Arizona Chess Association with TD
Enrique Huerta. This year Arizona Chess Federation experimented with yet
another system to determine the State Champion. Last year it was a Swiss system
tournament with five rounds, while the previous couple of years the Champions were
determined in the biggest tournament of the year-the Tucson Open. The six best
players (the number next year may increase if needed) were determined either by
winning certain past events (State Champion, Tucson Open, Old Pueblo Open
winners) plus the three highest by rating. As a result, the field was pretty strong-
with three IMs and two Masters. The final line up by rating was: IM Levon Altounian,
IM Mark Ginsburg, IM Dionisio Aldama, NM David Adelberg, NM Nick Thompson and
Jason Mueller.

This exciting event concluded with IM Mark Ginsburg, IM
Levon Altounian, and NM David Adelberg in a three-way tie for first place and
Arizona State Co-Champions.The three
champions have all contributed their game analysis. In this first part, we'll hear from IM Mark Ginsburg, who also maintains a blog at http://nezhmet.wordpress.com/.Part 1:By IM Mark
Ginsburg

Here's an interesting encounter from Round 1.

1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nf3 d6 4. Nc3 Bg4
Not a
scare system, but Timman did use it to draw the solid Lajos Portisch in Wijk
aan Zee, 1975 (an excellent tournament book by RHM Press covering that event!).5. e3 c5 6. Be2
The plan for better or worse is
6. dxc5 Bxc3+!? 7. bxc3 dxc5. I think Leonid Bass played Adelberg's
way against me in the 1980s.6...cd 7. ed Nc6 8. d5 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Ne5 10. Be2
White
could castle and leave the B on f3 for the moment.10...Nh6 White deviates from Portisch's Recipe11. f4!?
Deviating from Portisch-Timman where
white put a bishop rather passively on d2. In that game, Timman's queen
got to d4 via b6 and black was very active, holding a draw comfortably.11...Nd7 12. Be3 Nf5 13. Bf2 h5
Black
cements his knight on f5 but is left with not that much to do. White has
to be a bit better.14. O-O Bxc3
Not very inspiring.
15. bxc3
Nf6 16. Bd3 Qd7
I really didn't like my game and offered a draw.
White thought for some time and declined; however his next few moves don't meet
the requirements of the position as Soviet chess analysts used to like to say.17. Qc2
Now, or soon, I would as white play a
rook to the b-file and then advance with a2-a4-a5. White is better.17...O-O 18. Rae1
Again, I would play a rook to
the b-file.18...Rfe8 19. Re2?! This is the most serious gaffe
so far. The mechanical doubling on the e-file allows black's next which gives
black much needed breathing space. White should have simply prevented the
b5 break.19....b5! 20. Rfe1 bxc4 21. Bxc4 Rec8! 22. Ba6?A big
lemon. Black is just better after the obvious sac in reply.22...Nxd5
Of course.
23. Bxc8 Rxc8
And
now it's very hard for white to defend. Black just stays compact and uses
the Q & Knights combination to effectively attack, whereas white's rooks
completely lack coordination.Very hard for white to hold on in practical play24. Rc1 Nxf4 25. Re4 e5! This is strong because the black
queen gains access to g5 (see 27th move for black).26. Bg3 Ne6
It's easy for black to play. The
Bishop on g3 isn't doing anything so black just grabs space and goes back on
the attack in a few moves.27. Qa4 Qe7!
Going to g5. A false trail would
be to occupy the a8-g2 diagonal (although tempting) as the g5 square is much
more productive.28. Rc4 Rd8
Just staying out of the way in order
to resume the attack momentarily.
29. Qa3 Qg5 The end is near
now. 30. Qb2 h4 31. Be1 Nf4
And now it's resignable; White loses
back material with a two-pawn deficit.The Two Knights AttackI credit GM Yermolinsky with my coherent middle-game
play. Out of the many times I played him, in one specific game (I
think in Las Vegas), he instructively time and again put his pieces where they
coordinated and stayed compact. He explained his thinking process as just
that, staying compact. My 25th through 28th moves were all
exactly that - a compact formation that can uncoil and grab more space.32. Qd2
Nothing else to do. 32...Nd3
and 32....Ne2+ were both threatened and White can't stop both. 32...Ne2+
33. Qxe2 Qxc1 34. Rc7 Rb8 It's over.35. Qd2 Rb1 36. Qxc1 Rxc1 37. Kf1 Rc2 38. Rxa7 Ne3+ 39. Kg1
Rxg2+ 40. Kh1 h3
Completing white's king's entombment.
41. a4 Ng4
42. a5 Rxh2+ 43. Kg1 Rg2+ 44. Kh1 Ra2 45 Kg1 h2+ and White finally
resigned.0-1

To Adelberg's credit, he bounced back in Round 2 and in a
sharp Sozin Najdorf as black, defeated fellow Scorp IM Aldama.

In other Scorp action, Levon Altounian won with a 2. c3
Sicilian vs. NM Nick Thompson and when I left the playing hall tonight after
drawing IM Altounian, NM Thompson was battling NM Adelberg.

After 4 rounds I was in the lead with 3.5 out of 4. My
nearest competitors were Altounian and Adelberg with 3 out of 4. They
were due to play in the last round and I had black against fellow Scorp, IM
Dionysio Aldama. I had just come off a very long game,
eventually winning in a Sicilian Kan vs. NM Nick Thompson. Altounian
wound up making a draw with white vs. Adelberg's solid Slav, so it turned out
all I needed was a draw for clear first. The problem, though, was that I
achieved the most unpleasant of situations: a winning position in the opening!

As shown and played by Eugene Meyer. Black achieves
excellent dynamic play.11. dxc4 Ba6 12. Bd2? A weak move. White needs
b2-b3. 12...Nd7 13. exd5 cxd5 14. Rfe1After the game my opponent asked me what I would play on 14.
Nxd7. Can I take on c4, I inquired? No! 14. Nxd7 Bxc4 15.
Nxd5!! wins for white! If I stopped to think here, I would find 14. Nxd7
Qxd7! and black has a great game.14...Nxe5 15. dxe5 Qxc4?!
Although black of course stands
well now, there was no reason to pass up 15...Qb6+! 16. Kh1 Qxb2 17. Rac1
Bxc4. I was worried that my pieces could not easily aid my king after,
e.g., 18. Qg4, but of course that's not a real attack.16. Qxc4 Bxc4 17. Nd1
White
needs to regroup his terribly placed pieces.
17...Rfc8 18. Be3 f6
An
interesting moment. I also have 18...f5!? and I also have 18...Ba6!? just leaving
the f-pawn alone for the moment. 19. Bd4

Position after 19. Bd4

Here, I could play the "Dzindzihashvili bypass maneuver"
with 19...f5!? with the idea of further space gains on the kingside, g7-g5, and
so on. White can do little. I am calling it this because I saw GM Roman
do it once - offer a pawn exchange then craftily bypass the next move, ruling
out en passant! My chosen move is not bad either.19...fxe5 20. Bxe5 Bc5+ 21. Ne3 White
is barely holding on. I started wondering about Rc8-f8-f1+ but that leads
nowhere.21...Ba6 22. c3 Bd3
At this point Adelberg looked
solid (he in fact did hold the draw) so I offered a draw; I still thought black
was better. Aldama refused and played:23. Rad1 Be4 24. b4
Well, White has to do
something!
24...Bb6 25. a4

Position after 25. a4

25...a6?
I played this inaccurate move
quickly. After the game Altounian pointed out the very strong and fairly
obvious 25....a5! with the idea 26. b5 Rc4!. Clearly my brain was not
working too well after the prior rounds (some of them very long).
To make matters worse, Aldama was going off for quick rejuvenating smoke breaks
quite often. He was gaining energy!26. a5 Ba7 27. h3 Rc4
At least I found this safety
move. Coupled with Black's next it *should* remove all danger!28. Kh2 Bxe3 Of course this plan handing over
the bishop pair was not required and perhaps even suspect, I was just
afraid of any specter of N vs. B endings. But why give up the bishop
pair like this?29. Rxe3 Rf8 30. Rd4 Rf2! This rook never should have left
the seventh rank!31. Rg3 g6
How can Black lose? The
problem was I started thinking about using both rooks to attack white's king
and win!

Position after 31....g6

32. Rg4
I had no idea what white was up to besides
the Rgxe4 trick. I considered the safe 32...Rxd4 with a complete draw but decided
just to bring the c-rook around to the f-file. A bad practical decision!32...Rc8 Not a bad move, but White now plays the
shocking:33. Rgxe4!
The only chance to get out of the
bind! I completely fail to reorient.33...dxe4 34. Rxe4
A transformation! Black
should now be paying attention to the majority and find the obvious 34...Rc2!
defending and keeping the pawns at bay. Needless to say, black is fine
there. Altounian's computer said black is practically winning!
Instead I unfurled34...Rf5?? An example of not thinking
anymore. I was luring white to play the incomprehensible 35. g4? then I
play 35...Rf3!. See the note to black's 30th move!He quickly played instead the unpleasant:
35. c4!
and
now white's pawns are a huge headache. I saw nothing better than the lame
game continuation:35...Kf7 36. b5 Ke7 37. b6 Rxe5 38. Rxe5
38.
b7? Rec538...Rxc4 39. Rb5! Yes, I saw that one coming. Not a nice
turn of events with white very low on time but with moves like this
available. It now appears that white wins, barely, in the upcoming rook
ending by one tempo. Brutal!

Position after 39. Rb5!

39....Rc8 40. b7
Rb8 41 Rb6 Kd7 42. Kg3 e5 43. Kf3 Kc7 44. Ke4 Rxb7
Fortunately
white loses by one tempo if he plays 45. Rxb7 here, at least that is what I
calculated. I guess Aldama thought the same thing so he played
45. Rxa6 and
now I found 45...Rb3! creating problems by going for the g3
square! Drama continues!A very interesting rook ending. I think white played
the right way now:
46. Rf6 (!) Rg3 47. Rf2 Kb7 48. Kxe5.At this point black can go for the 48...g5 move to keep the
rook on g3, but it appears he gets broken down by zugzwang: white puts
the rook on the a-file and keeps the white king close to the g5 pawn; black
runs out of moves. Similarly, 48...h5 and 49...h4 also lose to a zugzwang.
Black tried another option which also lost (barely).48...Rg5+ 49. Kf6 Rxa5 50. Kg7 Rh5
This
position is a little tricky!
51. Rf3!White aims for g2-g4
trapping the rook.